Archive for December, 2010

Hate germs? Well, if you’re the type that approaches every door handle with a handkerchiefand a prayer, there’s one less door you need to be afraid of. There will be if this self-cleaning door handle concept becomes real anyway.

It continuously sterilizes itself with UV light, only stopping when you actually use it. A switch in the handle’s frame is what toggles the sanitizing illumination on and off. This design has even won a Red Dot award. Pretty clever if you ask us.

The latest in TRON merchandise for the new movie is this baton, inspired by the film. It’s actually a launcher that will fire away a replica of the famous light cycle that appears in the film. It’s a pretty neat toy.

We aren’t sure how far it launches, but we can see a lot of broken TVs and windows in it’s future. The TRON Legacy: Baton Light Cycle Launcher is available now for $16.50.

Any Doctor Who fan has to have a cool Doctor Who themed case for their iPhone 4. It’s mandatory. It’s practically an intergalactic law. And this one is arriving just in time for the Doctor Who Christmas special. The official Doctor Who iPhone 4 case featuring the Daleks.

The Doctor Who Daleks iPhone 4 Case is durable and allows you to access all the iPhone 4′s buttons and ports. It is also form fitting. Sadly it won’t be available until March, when the Doctor Who Dalek iPhone 4 Case will retail for $29.99.

This isn’t your grandmother’s sewing machine. The Brother Entrepreneur Pro PR-1000 is the world’s first 10-needle embroidery machine with built-in camera-like technology, low-cost digital garment printer, and the first sewing machine with a built-in scanner.

Yeah, your grandmother might not even know what to do with this thing. When the machine was launched in Europe earlier this year the price was around £7999.00 (USD $12,500). This one is for the serious diy-er who has some serious money.

HP has been busy today having filed a trio of trademarks for devices that could represent Palm’s 2011 webOS lineup. The USPTO filings refer to the Gyst, Myte and Veer in generic terms but they could fit the description of a smartphone. These three could be the previously codenamed Mantaray, Stingray and Windsor, with the previously mentioned Broadway maybe being the Pixi 2.

We don’t know what these phones will do versus the Pre 2 and Pixi 2, but at least one will likely to be a touch-only model. We will just have to wait and see what happens.

Griffin has launched a new iTrip FM transmitter for iPods, iPhones and MP3 players, called the Griffin iTrip Universal. It comes with an integrated 3.5mm audio cable, a built in display, and two user programmable presets. The device is powered by two AA batteries and comes with an optional window mount for your dashboard or car windshield.

iTrip sends the music from your player to the closest FM receiver, in your car or at home, through your stereo speakers. Expect it to be available in the first Quarter of 2011, with the iTrip costing $25 and the optional window mount costing $20.

Looking for some retro gaming on your Android Smartphone? Well, you’re in luck. A new Sega Dreamcast Emulator is currently in development for the Android OS. It’s still in the early stages of development, but it shouldn’t be very long before you are playing the classics on your Android phone.

Can you believe its been 11 years since the Sega Dreamcast was first launched? It was the first console to include a built-in modem and Internet support for online play. Sadly, it was discontinued a few years later, but remains a favorite of many gamers.

You might remember that awesome Mechanical Mario from earlier this year. Well, Donald “KodyKoala” Kennedy is at it again and has created a Yoshi version.

It is simply amazing like Mario. He used a Playmobile police station for Yoshi’s back and a couple of Lego laptops for the front display and keyboards. We’re not sure how tall it is, but we picture it rampaging over a large city causing mayhem.

The Scooterputer takes portability to a whole new level. It comes from modder Stephen Popa. This is basically a Thermaltake Element V case with plenty of gaming power sitting on a 24v rechargeable electric scooter that has been stretched a full 11 inches to maker room for the computer.

LG has unveiled the world’s first phone with a dual core processor. The phone runs on the dated Android 2.2, but LG is promising Gingerbread updates. We still have awhile to wait for this phone, but we will surely see it at CES before it’s 2011 arrival.

If you love Dreamcast and own either a PS3 or an Xbox 360, we have some good news. SEGA is releasing its Dreamcast compilation to both platforms very soon. The price is an affordable $29.99 for the compilation. So you can play all of these classic games without dragging the old console out of the closet.

The titles and a date have yet to be released, so we hope it has a good selection for the price. Even if they only include some of the hits, it will be well worth it.

Once again HTC is going the extra mile to ensure that the user experience on its mobile phones is everything it should be. The company has now released the first full YouTube client for Windows Phone 7. The most interesting feature is that it supports full HD playback over Wi-Fi.

The program works well and pretty fast and you get the typical features like Most Viewed, Most Discussed, Top Rated, Categories, and History. You can download the app right now from the Zune Marketplace.

The hand saw is one of oldest tools we still use. You can get quite a workout cutting wood with one. There must be a better way though. Well, John Zimmerman, a software developer, has come up with the Recoil Saw which has spring-loaded impact bars attached to the blade.

What that means is that at the end of each stroke, the spring will compress as the bar hits the material being sawed, followed by a release of energy flowing back into the following return stroke. It enables you to ‘bounce’ through wood, so you won’t get as tired.

Microsoft’s Albert Penello, in an interview by the British Official Xbox Magazine, admitted that although “faceplates were what everybody wanted to do” five years ago, they pretty much fell flat in terms of retail success. Fail!

So Microsoft killed them off pretty quickly. I know that I just want to play a good game myself, I could care less about dressing up my console like some doll. So, which of you guys bought these faceplates anyway?

Super Talent’s latest USB 3.0 Storage Pod is an ultraslim black box that contains a 500GB hard drive. It will transfer files using SuperSpeed USB, which is about ten times faster than USB 2.0. And you won’t need a power adapter since it’s completely bus-powered.

The company claims that it’ll zip files around at up to 90MB/sec. If you like what you see, you can get one next month for $99. Not bad for 500GB and super fast USB 3.0.